Sensitivity of the green alga Pediastrum duplex Meyen to allelochemicals is strain-specific and not related to co-occurrence with allelopathic macrophytes.

Interspecific differences in the response of microalgae to stress have numerous ecological implications. However, little is known of intraspecific sensitivities and the potential role of local genetic adaptation of populations. We compared the allelochemical sensitivity of 23 Pediastrum duplex Meyen strains, a common component of the freshwater phytoplankton. In order to test for local genetic adaptation, strains were isolated from water bodies with and without the allelopathically-active submerged macrophyte Myriophyllum. Strains were assigned to P. duplex on the basis of cell shape and colony morphology and only P. duplex strains that belonged to the same lineage in an ITS rDNA phylogeny were used. Inhibition of strain growth rates and maximum quantum yields of photosystem II were measured after exposure to tannic acid (TA) and co-culture with Myriophyllum spicatum. Growth rate inhibition varied over one order of magnitude between the P. duplex strains. There was no correlation between the presence of Myriophyllum in the source location and the sensitivity of the strains to TA or the presence of Myriophyllum, suggesting that at least strong unidirectional local adaptation to Myriophyllum had not taken place in the studied water bodies. The maximum quantum yield of photosystem II of TA exposed algae decreased, whereas the yield of algae exposed to M. spicatum was slightly higher than that of the controls. The ranking of P. duplex strain sensitivities differed between the types of exposure (single additions of TA versus co-existence with M. spicatum) and the parameter measured (growth rate versus maximum quantum yield), emphasizing the importance of measuring multiple traits when analysing strain-specific sensitivities towards allelochemicals. The observation that sensitivities to allelochemicals vary widely among strains of a single freshwater algal species should be taken into account if evaluating ecological consequences of allelopathic interactions.